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Barley Straw Grows Into Niche Marketing Enterprise For Keener Family
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
TURBOTVILLE (North
umberland Co.) Those cute
mini-bales of barley straw
Lancaster Farming Introduces A New Component Of Grower & Marketer:
The Stacks' Paradise Trout Hatchery
Still Going Strong After 100 Years
DEANNA CUNFER
Carbon Co. Correspondent
CRESCO (Monroe Co.)
Those who operate a success
ful family farming operation
can be justifiably proud of
their accomplishments.
So is the case for retired
owner, George Stack, and his
daughter, manager Beth Mar
tin of Paradise Brook Trout
Company Inc., Cresco, opera
tors of Paradise Trout Hatch
ery and Preserve.
What comes to mind for
Lancaster Farming •
popping out of the made-to
order baler appear to be for
decorative use only.
But don’t be fooled by size
and appearance. Those Koun-
most when thinking of a fami
ly farm is the traditional pic
turesque bam and outbuild
ings with contoured fields of
alternating crops, or the live
stock operation with animals
peacefully grazing in green
pastures. In actuality, a fish
hatchery such as Paradise is
no different than a crop or
livestock farm.
The serene look of build
ings, raceways, and ponds
among the towering pines
Section E •
try Bales are bringing a much
larger profit than their full-
size counterparts.
(Turn to Page E 10)
;er fan
al Member Of The Pennsylvania Aquaculture Association
with trout peacefully swim
ming within view of visitors
easily compares to those tran
quil scenes of livestock grazing
on the hillside.
Managing the hatchery on
120 acres that has been in
business for over 100 years,
Martin must be concerned
with nutrition, reproduction,
growth rate, sanitation, preda
tor control, marketing, and
unfortunately government
(Turn to Page E 2)
Saturday, March 8, 2003
Dennis and Donna Keener with children Danae,
18; Oeron, 14; and Derek, 7, work together to meet
the growing demand for Kountry Bales, which in
cludes those for pet needs and barley straw for
keeping ponds and water gardens free of algae.
Maxi the dog joins them. Photo by Lou Ann Good,
food and family features editor
Paradise Trout Hatchery, the first licensed fish
hatchery in Pennsylvania, actually opened for busi
ness in 1902. The family operation has been owned
and operated by the Stack family for more than 75
years.